Birthdays: Frederic Chopin, Glen Miller, Harry Belafonte is 80, David Niven, Robert Clary,Oskar Kokoschka, Roger Daltry, Robert Conrad,Catherine Bach, Timothy Daly, Chuck Zito, Ron Howard is 53

Welcome to MARCH from MARTIUS, THE MONTH OF MARS-so named because in ancient times it was the first month that was warm enough for armies to take the field and kill each other. Various warrior societies had religious ceremonies to inaugurate campaigning season. In Rome Salian Priests would do a ceremonial dance with the magic shields of Mars the Avenger, dropped from heaven for Romulus. The Macedonians would split a dog in half lengthwise and parade the troops between the halves, sort of going through the gates of Hades. I hope the dog appreciated the symbolism...

1930-Disney animator Ub Iwerks, the animator/designer of Mickey Mouse, quits the studio to set up his own place. Walt was stunned by the defection of his first employee and closest friend. Iwerks studio producing Flip the Frog Cartoons, will eventually fail and he'll return to Disney's to invent the xerox process. Iwerks partner was Pat Powers, whose PowersCinephone was the process used to put sound on “Steamboat Willie”.Powers engineered the break when Disney refused to let him buy in to a co-partnership in Disney Studio. Iwerks Studio went for a few years before closing in 1936. Iwerks was rehired by Disney in 1940. They were never that close ever again, but Walt arranged for Iwerks to animate one scene, no matter how small, in each feature for good luck.

1932- Museum of Modern Art in New York has first major retrospective of the style of architecture called "THE INTERNATIONAL STYLE" Steel girder frames with large windows for walls and no ornamentation. This style pioneered by Mies Van Der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Phillip Johnson. Called by critics "vertical ice cube trays" they now dominate the skylines around the world, making Moscow and Shanghai equally unrecognizable from Pretoria, or Newark, New Jersey.

1936- Max Fleischer's short cartoon"Snow White" (starring Betty Boop). Cab Calloway singing the "St. James Infirmary Blues", animated by Burny Wolf is a highlight.

1941-Captain America first appears on newsstands.

1946-The National Cartoonists Society formed.

1951- Frank Sinatra was subpoenaed by the Senate Kefhauer Committee looking into the activities of the Mafia. Sinatra was friends with top Godfathers Lucky Lucciano and Sam Giancana. In deference to Old Blue Eyes public persona strings were pulled so he was allowed to testify in his attorney’s private office high up in 30 Rockefeller Plaza at 4:00 a.m.

1961-The Ken Doll introduced.

1975- The first Honda Civics arrive in the US.

1978- Unemployed auto mechanics Gatchko Ganas and Roman Wardas broke into the tomb of Charlie Chaplin in Vevey Switzerland and stole his remains. They tried to hold it for ransom. The body was recovered and the two losers were soon arrested. They were trying to make enough money to open a car repair garage in France.

1988- Apple introduced the first commercially available CD-ROM drive for your personal computer.